The practice of electrospinning fibers from a polymer is still a relatively new practice. The electrospinning process has been used to form various types of polymers into fibers having a diameter of several nanometers. These small-diameter fibers have been found to have a large specific surface area relative to fibers, thus enabling the production of fibers having a high porosity.
Several processes for forming electrospun fibers, which can be used in the present invention, are disclosed in two articles entitled “Electrospinning Process and Applications of Electrospun Fibers” by Doshi and Reneker (J. Electrostatics, 35, 151 (1995)); and “Beaded nanofibers formed during electrospinning” by H. Fong (Polymer, 40, 4585 (1999)); PCT Application Serial Nos. WO 2004/074559; WO 2005/004768; WO 2005/005696; WO 2005/005704; WO 2007/002478; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,106,913; 6,955,775; 6,991,702; 7,229,944; and United States Patent Publication Nos. 20020100725; 2002/0173213; 2003/0215624; 2005/0224998; all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The general process for forming a nanofiber includes pumping, extruding, etc. a polymer solution through one or more small openings and subjecting the polymer solution to an electric field to form nanofibers fibers that are collected on the surface of a collector. The process results in the conversion of a polymer solution into solid polymer fibers. The process can be used to control the fiber diameter (i.e., from several nanometers to several thousand nanometers), and to control the size of the pores in the fibers to produce a porous polymer fiber.
Due to the unique properties of electrospun fibers, it is believed that such electrospun fibers could be used for various types of cleaning applications. As such, it would be advantageous to use the porous polymer fiber to form a cleaning implement. It would also be advantageous to include one or more functional actives in the porous polymer fibers so as to enhance the cleaning, sanitizing and/or disinfecting properties of the porous polymer fibers. In view of the current state of the art regarding polymer electrospun fibers, there is a need for polymer electrospun fibers that include one or more functional actives, and which polymer electrospun fibers can be used in various types of cleaning implements.